Glengarry Glen Ross, get lost? Stanford paper questions sales quotas.

Quotas are synonymous with sales, as the David Mamet production, Glengarry Glen Ross, brought to stage and screen with chilling intensity.

Now, research published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests that sales people may sell more, and more consistently, without the pressure of a fixed goal. Some will hit the target and quit, reserving future sales to meet the next quota, while others, despairing of hitting the mark, will pull back on deals they might close to boost their next month’s numbers.

The paper makes for interesting reading. But then where would Mamet have gotten his dramatis personae without the pressure of hitting the mark?